Following the removal of the former Director-General of the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency (NIMASA), Dr. Ziakede Patrick Akpobolokemi from office by president Muhammadu Buhari last week, the National Publicity Secretary of the Nigeria Indigenous Ship owners Association (NISA), Mr. Emmanuel Ilori has said that the former DG would be remembered for raising awareness of the agency within and outside the maritime industry.
Ilori who made this position known in Lagos on Tuesday in a chat with newsmen noted that prior to his appointment as the NIMASA helmsman, there was little or nothing known about NIMASA as far as the maritime industry in Nigeria was concerned.
He said,” I think if there is anything you can take away from the former DG’s tenure, it is that we have increased awareness of NIMAS because everybody now know about NIMASA. So, we cannot say NIMASA doesn’t exist.
“Well, you cannot say whether it is a positive or negative in the sense that raising awareness must be seen as positive issue because we become more aware that there is an organization like the Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency. Now it left for us to begin to articulate what does NIMASA mean for the nation and this is where we need to begin to articulate what NIMASA mean further.
“For his tenure, yes, he has succeeded in creating awareness about NIMASA which is an organization that is supposed to be contributing technically to the development of the Nigerian Maritime Industry which will be the next phase, having awareness, what does NIMASA mean to the national economy? What does NIMASA mean for the creation of jobs? What does NIMASA mean for the technical development of the industry?
“Don’t forget that NIMASA primarily is a regulatory, verification and compliance agency. That is the primary function, safety of vessels that trade on the Nigerian environment. So, if we need to begin to expand further, the technical development of NIMASA, are they being fulfilled? If they are not being fulfilled, what can we do to ensure that NIMASA actually contribute to the technical development of the industry?”
On whether the former DG fulfilled the technical development aspect of the industry during his days in NIMASA, the NISA image maker observed that it would be difficult for one to say that it was not fulfilled to an extent as according to him, he had made a stab having tried one way or the other to raise the awareness of those issues.
“Prior to now, we were not aware of what the issues were with NIMASA. Now that we have come to understand better why we need to have a strong technically, viable Nigerian Maritime Administration and Safety Agency that controls the safety of vessels primarily and then in terms of shipping development because there are other functions that they need to address, we need to beging to understand that it is a technical function”, he said.
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